1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to improvements in drain cleaning apparatus, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a portable drain cleaning apparatus having multiple combination usages for servicing a broad range of drain sizes and piping component combinations, including traps and short bends.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Drain cleaning apparatuses of various types and arrangements have been known for many years. Bowlsby, U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,852, teaches the use of a rotating drum having a length of coiled spring snake with an internally extending flexible tube for carrying a flow of water to the free end of the snake. Tap water is passed at house pressure to the hub of the drum to which the near end of the snake is attached. However, this does not provide any cleaning efficacy, as the low pressures encountered in such service are simply ineffective to provide any practical benefit.
Sato, U.S. Pat. No. 3,959,840, is similar, but includes a pump which communicates with a water tank for delivering a high pressure water jet to the free end of the flexible tube.
Ciaccio, U.S. Pat. No. 3,045,547, is an earlier teaching of a wheel supported portable apparatus which deals with the matter of simultaneously feeding and rotatably driving a coiled rod with a cutting tool mounted thereon for cleaning municipal sewers, and with the imparting of variable rotating and payout speeds by means of power provided by a gasoline engine. Ciaccio, U.S. Pat. No. 3,370,599, also dealing with large municipal sewers, teaches a similar rotatable drum and power apparatus but adds a rotary hydraulic cleaning tool incorporating a forwardly-directed cleaning jet and rearwardly-directed propulsion jets to assist in propelling the tool along the sewer pipe.
Klein, Sr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,679, teaches a method for cleaning clogged pipes in which a snake hose having a free nozzle with radially directed jets is forced through a clogged pipe and withdrawn in flushing activation. The claimed purpose is to avoid dirty water backup in the pipe's internally positioned inlets.
Finger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,368,757, teaches a pressure cleaning apparatus having a pair of fluid containers used to blend detergent and water to the suction inlet of a pump. However, this patent, being of interest in the general area of pressurized cleaning devices, does not deal with the cleaning of sewer lines and the like.
These and all other known prior art teachings have faced specific problems associated with the cleaning of municipal, industrial and domestic lines. As discerned from the above mentioned patents, as well as from the experience in the field of drainage cleaning, a fairly wide array of cleaning devices is available to the craftsman faced with a particular stoppage difficulty. However, when called to a location, one is usually informed only vaguely as to what is to be expected in terms of line sizes, trap types and locations, and other such information necessary for the cleaning task at hand. Thus, the normal service operator may be ill equipped to adapt in terms of equipment to the problem encountered. In short, a drain cleaning apparatus which offers a wide range of systems that can be used in various combinations to accommodate and bring relief to a customer's plaintive but ill described request for assistance has attractive and useful possibilities in this field.
One item of equipment which would be most helpful is a lightweight, portable drain cleaning apparatus that can easily be taken to practically every location, including roof decks and the like.